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Irwindale, CA. - Oct. 7, 2010 - Crew members of the three Roger Penske Racing South NASCAR Sprint Cup Dodge teams (No. 2 Kurt Busch, No. 12 Brad Keslowski, and No. 77 Sam Hornish) teamed with sponsor Mobil 1 for a fun night of R & R. Team members met at the Toyota Speedway at Irwindale four-degree banked third-mile Thursday for a night of skid plate racing before their Sprint Cup day jobs commenced the next day through Sunday at California Speedway in Fontana. Ten skid plate cars, provided by skid plate innovator Robert Rice, Jan's Towing and S & J Towing, were vehicles of choice. Almost 30 Penske South crewmen participated in front-wheel drive, four-cylinder compact or sub-compact cars. Each car had the two rear tires removed and two wheels with three-quarter inch thick, 10” X 20” beveled at the front steel plates welded to each rear wheel. Welded angle iron bracing is used at each skid plate and secured by bolts at the back of the car. Skid plates produced sparks from each wheel all around the track. Back seats and side window glass were removed and cars were numbered for scoring. Doors were welded shut and drivers entered through the window area. This event quickly became known as “the Mobil 1 Skid Plate 500”.
Penske No. 77 (Hornish) spotter Nick DeFazio and his father, Bob, TS@I GM/COO, arranged the fun night of on-track action for the Penske crews. They were able to practice in the skid plate cars from 4:30 pm and then enjoyed a catered buffet meal and soft drinks at tables arranged on the turn 1-2 grass infield between the third and half-mile tracks. TS@I on Thursday, October 7 literally became a motorized three-ring circus. Formula Drift cars practiced in the infield during the day and filled the west end pit area for a major Friday-Saturday event. Penske teams skid plate competition occupied the short oval track, as regular weekly Thursday night drag strip action took place simultaneously on the eighth-mile drag strip from 5:00 to 9:30 pm. For $20 for the evening drivers raced their street legal vehicles side-by-side on the drag strip, located southeast of the oval track backstretch.
The skid plate field consisted of veteran Pick Your Part orange cars (Nos. 3, 5, 7, 11 and 63 on the doors) that had raced in the prior eight skid plate races (two in 2009 and six this year). Jan's Towing and S & J Towing provided fresh skid plate cars that never had been raced. Each of the newer cars had Mobil 1 on the side and white numbers painted on the upper right side of the front windshield for scoring purposes. Marquees included Ford Escort LX, Honda Accord and Civic, Plymouth Reliant, Hyundai Sonata, Chevy Cavalier, Pontiac 6000, Toyota Camry, Mazda Protege, and Saab Scania turbo 900 (with 217,438 miles on the odometer). The new skid plate cars came from U Pick, U Save Self-Service Auto Dismantling in Pomona and were completely stock, just off area streets. These cars had doors that opened and had automatic or stick-shift transmissions. Spectators watched from outside turn two of the third-mile near the half-mile backstretch. The half-mile second turn served as the skid plate cars pit area.
All skid plate competitors signed liability releases, wore their own or borrowed helmets, and used the original seat belts. Penske crewmen participated in a random draw for starting positions and cars in the three five-lap heat races on the third-mile. The first three finishers in each heat advanced to a ten-lap main event with ten starters, including a promoter's option. With the same cars used all night, drivers again drew new numbers for their main event rides. Electronic transponders were available but were not used. TS@I scorer Sara Atkinson scored each race from track level outside K-rails near the first turn. Track official Mike Atkinson drove the ex-police patrol car black & white Ford Crown Victoria with red lights still on the roof and paced each race. This reporter rode shotgun in it for the first heat race at 6:30 pm. Adam, the track tire man, was in the starters' stand and ran the track lights. Cars started two abreast at the front straight starting line from a standing start.
Heat 1 – Travis Geisler, crew chief for the Hornish 77 Sprint Cup car, led all five laps in the No. 6 Mazda Protege. Adam Charette, the Hornish 77 tire specialist, finished second in No. 3. Hornish spotter Nick DeFazio drove the No. 9 to third place in a nine-car field. Spins were commonplace all around the third-mile. Cars ran 20 to 30 mph on the two straights when they weren't sliding or spinning in the turns.
Heat 2 – Darren Russell, engine tuner for Kurt Busch's No. 2 Dodge, took the lead on lap 3 and won the second heat in car No. 3. Lap 1-2 leader Ryan Tschudi, the No. 77 Cup car underneath mechanic, finished second, 20-yards back, in the No. 6 skid plate car. Brian Campe, race engineer for Brad Keslowski's No. 12 Cup car, was third in the No. 1 orange Honda Accord with 63 on the door. Recent all-female demo derby driver Angela DeFazio, 21-year old daughter of the TS@I executive and sister of Nick, a former NASCAR Super Late Model driver at the track, drove the No. 2 skid plate car, but she placed outside the top three. Eight cars started.
Heat 3 – Ten cars started at 6:59 pm. TS@I veteran SLM driver Luis Martinez, Jr., 20, drove a skid plate car for the first time before departing for his next K & N Pro Series West NASCAR race at Roseville. He took the lead on lap 4 in the gray S & J Towing No. 17 Honda Accord and won. Ben Murphy, a Penske team engineer for all three Cup cars, was runner-up in a Ford Escort LX. Steve Reis, a Hornish 77 engineer, finished third. Martinez relinquished his main event berth so another Penske crewman could race.
Next, Mobil 1 marketing employees Deborah Rowe (in No. 17) and Colleen Cooper (in No. 6) raced a two lap match race after starting from the pit area and pulling onto the backstretch. Each lady led a lap as they spun several times and made car contact, just as the Penske crewmen had done earlier. “I tried to spin her,” Rowe said after exiting her skid plate car in the second turn pits. Cooper led the final lap. Dents and lost bumpers and car trim were commonplace around the track during the racy evening. Rowe had the honor of picking the promoter's option tenth driver. She picked Pat Didomenicia to drive the added car; he drew the No. 8 mid-1980s Pontiac 6000.
Main Event – The scheduled 10-lap race actually ran 12 laps (from 7:34 to 7:41) after starting from a standing start on the front straight after the ex-police car/pace car pulled into the infield. Adam Charette, the 77 tire specialist, led the first four laps and then spun. Car 8 led laps 5-8 before spinning. Nick DeFazio, in the Saab Scania 900, led laps10-11, but he spun out high leaving turn four on the white flag lap and dropped two positions. Charette, from North Carolina, led lap 12 in the older PYP orange 1993 Chevy Cavalier with No. 7 on the door and a white 6 on the windshield. The winner ran the closing laps with a smoking flat right front tire that had steel belts and cord showing from hard use. Darren Russell finished second in the orange PYP Honda Accord (No. 63 on the door and white 1 on the windshield). DeFazio recovered from his spin and placed third in the black No. 48 Saab. The top three finishers received engraved plaques (worth $50 each) from TS@I management. Event organizer Nick DeFazio also presented the winner with an aluminum base trophy, topped by a model of the Penske No. 27 stock car that Hornish and Ryan Newman raced in ARCA before they raced in NASCAR. Appropriately, the model car had metal skid plates instead of back tires.
Winner Charette was thrilled by his victory. He pulled into the pits, stood on the window sill with both arms raised in a victory salute. “This is one of the coolest things I've ever done. It's awesome. I told them the car was loose and they said skid plate cars are suppose to be loose.” The tenth car added to the nine cars from the three heat races was the No. 10 silver 1991 Ford Festiva. TS@I mini stock champion Daryl Scoggins raced that No. 10 car to the June 26 skid place 20 lap victory in a then TS@I record 28 car field. The entire Penske crew/Mobil 1 representative group posed for a group photo in front of the outside wall of the half-mile track. The top three drivers in the main event and Mobil 1 reps were in front row with their plaques/trophy displayed prominently. At 8:00 pm the Penske/Mobil group adjourned to the catering area for liquid refreshments and to rehash their night of on-track, not behind the wall, racing thrills. At California Speedway, word of the Penske crews fun night spread and they received challenges from other crews wanting a crack at skid plate racing. Teams from Rick Hendrick and Penske are set for match racing in skid plate cars at Irwindale when the Sprint Cup Series returns to Fontana in 2011.
P.S. - After the Penske crews vacated the skid plate cars, ten of us spectators had a chance to play skid plate racers after track exec Bob DeFazio gave his permission. In effect, he said have at it boys. We did. Those who tried their hand at skid plate driving were: Adam Ditto, winner of the 25-lap trailer race on August 14, Howard Schlick, owner of the S & J Towing newer skid plate cars, his 13-year old son Ricky, a six-time TS@I Bandolero feature winner (four this year and two in 2009), Robert Organ, the Schlick team crew chief, classic stock car drivers Tommy Mason and Jeffrey Best of Low Budget TV, Edmund Jenks, “Now Public” media editor (in the black No. 48 Saab 900 that finished third in the Penske M-E), track announcer Jason Galvin, racing journalist Tim Kennedy (me), and 2009 TS@I mini stock champion Daryl Scoggins in the silver No. 10 Ford Festiva, his usual ride. That car failed to start the last race on September 11 for Ed Scoggins because of a clogged fuel filter. Daryl hot-lapped it and pronounced the car ready to race again. Regular TS@I competitor April Shaw-Johns was present and ready to go in her usual No. 7 ride that won the Penske crew main event, but the deflated RF tire prevented that. Thanks Ricky for fastening the chin strap of the black Impact full-face helmet. We had use of the newer skid plate cars and well-lighted third-mile oval from 8:15 to 9:20 pm.
The older orange PYP cars did not have functional doors or brake lights. Skid plate builder Robert Rice put tires on his orange PYP cars and drove them to the back of the pits, so we had six cars to drive. All the newer cars had doors that opened on each side and brake lights that still worked. None of us tried to use the car radios. Every skid plate car had five gallons of gas when the Penske crewmen practiced in them. We ran one car (gray No. 17) out of gas and it overheated with steam rising and water coming from the radiator as Jeffrey spun it entering turn one. Everyone had a chance to try several skid plate cars and cars received additional dents from our neophyte skid plate contingent. Actually, Ditto and Mason had experience racing skid plate cars in the October 2009 main event. I sat in the black No. 48 Saab briefly as I waited for a helmet. I followed Ed driving the gray No. 8 Pontiac 6000 (circa 1982-87). Then Tommy used the same black helmet and took it for a spin. Daryl, using his own helmet and HANS device, and Jason drove the Pontiac 6000 after Tommy exited the seat. All ran faster in it than yours truly.
My first lap out of the pits resulted in a spin before the third turn and again a lap later as the engine stalled. Shifting back into park and turning the key to the right, the engine restarted and dash lights returned, so I proceeded with more skid plating. I ran about five steadily faster laps at quarter throttle in the low groove near the white inside line. It required constant left/right movements of the steering wheel to keep the car going forward. My final entrance into the first turn, at my fastest speed yet, resulted in two quick 360-degree loops to the infield. I pulled it into the skid plate pits to give someone else a chance in the car. Six laps, three spins and no dents inflicted on the car gave me a good feel for “what it's like out there” on skid plates. As a septuagenarian, I qualify for one distinction—the oldest skid plate driver. Two quick glances at the speedometer on the backstretch showed my speed at 20-25 mph with another car on the front straight. Non-top three Penske crewmen were in that speed range too with wall contact and spin-outs common The top three Penske crewmen raced at slightly over 30 mph. That speed is similar to top runners in the six TS@I skid plate races this year. The all-time top lap speed has been 37.486 mph during the September skid plate main. Six of our ten “play night” drivers, including June 26 and August 14 skid plate winner Scoggins, Mason, Ditto, Galvin, Organ and impressive 13-year old Ricky Schlick, ran many 30+ mph laps. Ricky clearly is a racer with innate driving talent. He wanted a car with an automatic transmission because he hasn't driven a stick shift car yet. The Claremont resident will graduate from his Briggs & Stratton-powered No. 24 Bandolero car and race Legends when he turns 14 next May. His dad says he wants to race in NASCAR touring series when he is old enough. Ricky currently ranks third in TS@I Bandolero points and is 20 points out of the lead. He will be racing for the championship October 15-16 against Ryan Cansdale and Trevor Huddleston.
Some of the more daring neophyte skid plate “racers” Thursday used the outside to maintain higher speed all around the track. At times they met the outside wall. Cars ran two to five at a time on the track. I tried to keep about half a lap distance between my car 8 and any car in front of me. That was helpful when I was able to avoid a spinning gray car on the front straight as I exited turn four. The last skid plate race at Irwindale had a record 33 cars racing at the same time on the third-mile. Even if you keep your skid plate car straight it is difficult to avoid getting hit from behind or on the side by out-of-control cars. Leaders also have been taken out by hitting spinning cars. Before we all parked our skid plate cars at 9:20 a surprise awaited Scoggins, the lone driver on the track at 8:45. Two white passenger vans came onto the track together at speed with Penske crewmen aboard and ran several rapid laps. They caught and passed Scoggins in the Pontiac 6000 skid plate car entering the first turn and he almost spun out from sheer surprise. One of the van drivers, Nick DeFazio, stopped to say goodbye at our skid plate pits before heading east to the Penske team hotel near Fontana.
The final fun event for our group was starting three skid plate cars side-by-side (Indy 500 style) from a standing start on the backstretch. A guy standing near the trio gave the starting sign by dropping both of his raised hands (as seen in the 1950s James Dean movie “Rebel Without a Cause”). Participants were the fastest guys—Adam, Darryl and Ricky in the first three lap dash. Tommy, Jeffrey and Jason raced in the second three lap dash. Winners were not recorded amid all the laughter. Buddies and Low Budget TV videographers Tommy and Jeffrey, who shared the No. 50 Chevy Monte Carlo classic stock ride last year, made hard contact after their dash. They performed deliberate double spin-outs on the backstretch as they returned their S & J Towing skid plate cars to the pits. No harm, no foul.
Fans of FWD sedan racing (on skid plates or four tires) should keep the date Saturday, October 30 open on their schedule. TS@I will stage the track's first ever “enduro race” of 50 (or more) laps for those cars. S & J Towing and Robert Rice (PYP) will have rental cars available for $300 for budding race drivers to race in the “enduro”. You have to sign a liability waiver and wear a helmet. As a point of interest, skid plate car counts this year in order have been 20, 22, NTR 28, 23, 27 and NTR 33 for TS@I year two of skid plate racing. It's hard to imagine navigating your own car in those events through cars spinning and crashing at 20-35 mph. The winner surely will be fast and lucky too. The TS@I Halloween eve program again is billed as “A Night of Destruction”. Other events that busy evening will include a 75-lap truck race, open comp stocks, FWD cars enduro, demo derby, Figure 8 race, classic stocks, Drive Tech School late models, and a trailer race.
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